How much did a schnitzel, goulash or fryer become more expensive. Great price comparison – FAEI.cz

What do goulash, sirloin, burger or Caesar salad have in common? They are definitely not common ingredients for their preparation, but a significant increase in price. All dishes that are normally offered by restaurants and other establishments have become more expensive by dozens of crowns over the past five years.

Let’s look at lunches first. While a schnitzel cost an average of 111 crowns in 2019, this year it is already 168 crowns. Similarly, other traditional foods have become more expensive. Goulash from 106 to 168 crowns, fried cheese from 103 to 161 crowns, sirloin from 116 to 182 crowns, Caesar salad from 126 to 148 crowns and burger from 148 to 216 crowns.

The price increase is even more significant if the guest orders one of these dishes for dinner. In general, lunch menu prices are lower in restaurants. And so, over the past five years, the price of schnitzel has risen on average from 125 to 192 crowns, goulash from 132 to 207 crowns, fried cheese from 106 to 168 crowns, Caesar salad from 188 to 211 crowns, and a burger even from 164 to 239 crowns.

Lunch without soup

While in 2019, lunchtime sales of main dishes accounted for 38.1 percent of sales, it is currently 36.5 percent. Every percentage plays a vital role. Decreases in lunch sales by a few percentage points are also noticeable for cold soft drinks and coffee. Soups are also on the decline.

“You can see that people are trying to save by not having a drink or soup for lunch. This is partly due to the use of delivery services, when customers often only order food,” stated Petr Menclík, director of Dotykačka, whose cash register system is used by the largest number of domestic gastro establishments.

The average lunch spend in a restaurant is now 224 crowns, almost 70 crowns more than in 2019. The lunch offer in restaurants has thus become more expensive by 44 percent over the past five years. The prices of the main dishes offered in the lunch menus have risen even more significantly.

At the same time, it is likely that the increase in prices in the gastro sector has not yet ended and that it will move above the overall average level of inflation. “Despite the fact that overall inflation has been brought down, sectoral inflation remains around ten percent and the VAT increase has not yet been fully reflected in final prices,” macroeconomist Štěpán Křeček, chief economist at BH Securities, told FAEI.cz.

According to the analysis of the companies Dotykačka and BC21, which focuses on the support of projects in gastronomy, inflation in the gastronomy sector could be around 5.5 percent at the end of this year. In its forecast from the beginning of April this year, the Ministry of Finance expects an average inflation of 2.7 percent for the whole year. Also, most analysts assume that this year’s price growth should not exceed three percent.

They earn better restaurants

Even if prices are rising in restaurants, this does not mean that people will resent visiting gastro establishments. On the contrary. It is only known that they choose much more conscientiously what they spend their money on. So, for example, the better, more prestigious, “famous” restaurant, the higher the sales.

In general, the sales of gastro businesses reached comparable values ​​in the first quarter of this year as in the first quarter of last year. However, given the year-on-year inflation of eight percent, this means a real decline. But high-end devices, for example, deviate from this trend.

“It makes a big difference if it’s an average restaurant or a premium establishment,” pointed out the director of Dotykačka, Petr Menclík. “While average restaurants are truly average, the so-called ‘better’ restaurants are experiencing a renaissance and are far outperforming all other gastro segments.”

The findings of Dotykačka show that the quarterly sales of premium restaurants increased by 11 percent year-on-year. This is practically double compared to cafes, which otherwise appear to be the most successful concept within the gastro sector. Moreover, this development does not only concern Prague or big cities.

“As part of the transformation of the entire industry, quality gastronomy has spread across the entire republic. While in the past there were at most ‘four’ pubs in small villages, nowadays even in smaller towns more sophisticated businesses can prosper – be it restaurants, cafes or bistros.

People are willing to pay extra for quality, and thanks to this, they no longer have to travel so far for gastronomic experiences,” said Luboš Kastner, a member of the board of the Association of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Tradesmen of the Czech Republic (AMSP ČR), as well as the Chamber of Commerce, and a representative of gastronomes in other institutions .